Eugenia flavicarpa Valdemarin & Faria

Valdemarin, Karinne Sampaio, Mazine, Fiorella F. & Souza, Vinicius Castro, 2024, Eugenia (Myrtaceae) from Reserva Natural Vale, Espírito Santo, a center of plant endemism in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, Phytotaxa 651 (1), pp. 1-79 : 32-34

18. Eugenia flavicarpa Valdemarin & Faria (in Valdemarin et al. 2020: 541). ( Fig. 12 .)

Trees 22–27 m tall. Twigs tomentose when young, glabrescent; trichomes whitish. Young leaves tomentose, glabrescent; trichomes whitish. Leaves with petioles 4–6 mm long, canaliculate adaxially, puberulent; blades 26–70 × 13–30 mm, elliptic or sometimes narrow-elliptic, discolorous when dry, lighter abaxially, not glaucous and puberulent adaxially and pubescent or puberulent abaxially; bases acute or attenuate; apices acuminate, sometimes slightly falcate; midvein sulcate adaxially and raised abaxially, puberulent or glabrate adaxially and pubescent or puberulent abaxially; secondary veins 9–12 at each side, slightly raised on both surfaces; marginal veins two, the innermost 2–4 mm from the plane to slightly revolute and without thickening margin; oil glands inconspicuous adaxially and inconspicuous or slightly raised abaxially. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, generally ramiflorous, fascicle with late vegetative proliferation, sessile or with peduncle up to 1 mm long, rachis up to 7 mm long, tomentose; bracts 1.5–3 mm long, elliptic or narrow-lanceolate, tomentose, deciduous at anthesis; 4–6 flowers; pedicels 4.5–9.7 mm long, tomentose; bracteoles 2–3 mm long, free, linear or narrowly lanceolate, apices acute or obtuse, tomentose, not reflexed, deciduous at anthesis; trichomes whitish. Flower buds 3.5–4 mm in diameter. Flowers with smooth, tomentose hypanthium; calyx lobes 4, free, 2–3 × 2–3.2 mm, ovate or oblong, apices rounded, tomentose; petals 4, obovate, oil glands evident; staminal ring pubescent; stamens with filaments 2.5–4 mm, anthers oblong or widely oblong; style 4.5–6 mm, glabrous, stigma punctiform and papillose; ovary 2-locular, ovules 17–20 per locule, locule internally glabrous. Fruits 30–50 × 19–35 mm, ellipsoid or sometimes globose, smooth, velutinous, yellow when ripe; seed 1 per fruit, 15.5–23.5 × 15–22.5 mm, ellipsoid or globose, testa smooth.

Specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Linhares, Reserva Natural Vale – Estrada Caingá , 22 January 2004, fr., D.A. Folli 4748 (CVRD!, SORO!) ; ibid., Estrada Gávea , 25 January 1994, fr., D.A. Folli 2192 (CVRD!, HUFSJ!, SORO!) ; ibid., 27 November 1980, fl., I.A. Silva 216 (CVRD!, RB!, RBR!, UB!) .

Distribution and habitat: — Eugenia flavicarpa is known from collections from the state of Espírito Santo and probably endemic to the Tabuleiro forest in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil. The species was collected so far just in the RNV, where it is found in the Mata Alta vegetation canopy.

Phenology: —Flowering in November; fruiting in January ( Fig. 4 ).

Taxonomic comments: —The species can be assigned to Eugenia sect. Pseudeugenia due to its fasciculate inflorescences with late vegetative proliferation, linear to narrow-lanceolate bracteoles that are deciduous at anthesis, tomentose flowers, and fruits velutinous and yellow when ripe. Eugenia flavicarpa is morphologically similar to E. adenophylla , by the same features described above, but can be distinguished by the petioles 4–6 mm long and leaf blades with oil glands inconspicuous adaxially (vs. petiole 7–10 mm long and leaf blades with raised oil glands adaxially), inflorescences tomentose and flowers with pedicels of 5–9 mm long (vs. inflorescences pubescent or puberulent and flowers with pedicels 10–22 mm long), and fruits ellipsoid, sometimes globose, 30–50 × 19–35 mm (vs. fruits pyriform, 47–53 × 36–40 mm).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Phenological diagram of Eugenia species from Reserva Natural Vale, Espírito Santo, Brazil. Flowering periods are represented by dark red border triangles, fruiting in grey filled triangles, and “n” is the number of observations.

FIGURE 12. Isotype of Eugenia flavicarpa Valdemarin & Faria.